What is coaxial cable and state its application?

Coaxial cable is commonly used by cable operators, telephone companies, and internet providers around the world to convey data, video, and voice communications to customers. It has also been used extensively within homes.

It has been around for a long time as a technology (since the early 20th century) and has many singular advantages for reliable, accurate transmission.

It also has limitations that will cause it to be replaced in some cases by fiber optic cable, category cable or, sometimes, by wireless signals.

The key to the coaxial cable’s success has been its shielded design, which allows the cable’s copper core to transmit data quickly, without succumbing to interference or damage from environment factors.

What is coaxial cable?

Coaxial cable is a type of cable that has an inner conductor surrounded by an insulating layer, surrounded by a conductive shielding. Many also have an insulating outer jacket The diagram below illustrates the construction of a typical cable. Electrical signal flows through the center conductor.

Which is better: coaxial cable or fiber optic cable?

Both of these types of cable can be used for carrying video, audio, and other forms of data, and both can offer you distinct advantages and disadvantages in setting up your network.

Deciding which is best for your situation depends on the distance of your connection and the amount of data you will send. Fiber optic cables carry a signal for several miles before needing a repeater. Signal losses are higher in coax cable, so you should use it for shorter distances. Fiber optic cables carry far more information. Fiber optic cable is also significantly more expensive. Fiber optic cables are found less frequently in residential and consumer settings than coaxial cables.

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How to Choose and Install Speaker Cable

There are three types of wire connectors that you can use with your speaker cables: banana plugs, spade connectors, and pin connectors. Each is easy to install, requiring only a few simple tools. In order to choose the right kind, you first have to take a look at the terminals available on your equipment.

Banana plugs are designed to work with binding posts, inserting straight into the holes on the ends (note: not all binding posts have this). There are also dual banana plugs, which are used for bi-wiring/-amping speaker cables.

Spade connectors (typically u-shaped) also work with binding posts, maintaining contact with the base of the terminal (as would bare speaker cables) once the binding post screw has been tightened down.

Pin connectors work with spring-loaded terminals (also known as spring clips), but can also work with binding posts that have a hole in the side of the inside connector (you have to unscrew the top back far enough to see it).

It’s quite possible that you can have different types of connections on the backs of stereo equipment. Sometimes you might have more than one type on each (e.g. receivers and amplifiers). So, for example, if your speaker cables has spring clips, then you’ll want a pair of pin connectors. And if your receiver/amplifier has binding posts, then you would pick either a pair of banana plugs or spade connectors.

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How many different types of Fire Alarm Cable are available?

There are five basic types of Fire Alarm Cable that are identifiable by the areas where they are approved for use by the National Electric Code.

  • FPL— Power Limited for general purposes. This designation indicates that this fire alarm cable is non-plenum rated, and may not be installed in risers, ducts, plenums, or other spaces used for environmental air unless first installed in conduit. Although FPL cables resist the spread of fire, they are not typically as fire-resistant as plenum and riser-rated cables.
  • FPLR— Power Limited Suitable for the floor to floor, or “riser-rated.” Risers are the spaces that run vertically from floor to floor in a building. The National Electric Code requires FPLR cable to be fire-resistant to prevent fires from spreading through multiple floors of a building.
  • FPLP— Power Limited Suitable for use in ducts, plenums, and other spaces dedicated to air circulation because of the extra safety features incorporated into its design. This Cable is plenum-rated, fire-resistant, and produces little smoke in the case of a fire.
  • NPLF— Non-Power Limited for general purpose.
  • NPLFP— Non-Power Limited Suitable for use in ducts, plenums, and other spaces.

Network Cable Standards

Category 5 cable

Category 5 (CAT5) cable is a multi-pair (usually 4 pair) high performance cable that consists of twisted pair conductors, used mainly for data transmission. Basic CAT5 cable was designed for characteristics of up to 100 MHz. CAT5 cable is typically used for LAN Ethernet networks running at 10 or 100 Mbps. Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) construction makes the cable highly cost-effective for data networks.

Category 5e Cable

Category 5e (CAT5e) cable, also known as Enhanced Category 5, is designed to support full-duplex Fast Ethernet operation and Gigabit Ethernet. The main differences between CAT5 and CAT5e can be found in the specifications. The performance requirements have been raised slightly in the new standard.

CAT5e cable has stricter specifications for Power Sum Equal-Level Far-End Crosstalk (PS-ELFEXT), Near-End Crosstalk (NEXT), Attenuation, and Return Loss (RL) than those for CAT5. Like CAT5, CAT5e cable is a 100-MHz standard, but it has the capacity to handle bandwidth superior to that of CAT5. VPI’s selection of CAT5e cables feature Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) construction for cost-effective connections.

Category 6 Cable

Category 6 (CAT6) cable provides higher performance than CAT5e cable and features more stringent specifications for crosstalk and system noise.

The quality of the data transmission depends upon the performance of the components of the channel. To transmit according to CAT6 specifications, jacks, patch cables, patch panels, cross-connects, and cabling must all meet CAT6 standards. The CAT6 components are tested individually, and they are also tested together for performance. In addition, the standard calls for generic system performance so that CAT6 components from any vendor can be used in the channel.

All CAT6 components must be backward compatible with CAT5e, CAT5, and CAT3. If different category components are used with CAT6 components, then the channel will achieve the transmission performance of the lower category. For instance, if CAT6 cable is used with CAT5e jacks, the throughput will perform at a CAT5e level. VPI offers both Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) and Screened Shielded Twisted Pair (SSTP) CAT6 cables.

Category 6a Cable

Category 6a (CAT6a), also known as Augmented Category 6, requires a cable to operate at a minimum of 500Mhz and provide up to 10 Gigabits of bandwidth. The CAT6a standard also includes a new measurement called Power-Sum Alien Crosstalk to 500 MHz. CAT6a cables will reduce the interference on a 10GBASE-T network caused by Alien Crosstalk thereby improving network performance. VPI’s selection of CAT6a cables feature Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) construction for cost-effective connections.

Category 7 Cable

Category 7 (CAT7) cable, also known as Class F, requires a cable to operate at a minimum of 600Mhz and provide up to 10 Gigabits of bandwidth. To further reduce interference, CAT7 cable requires individually fully shielded twisted pairs. Screened Shielded Twisted Pair (SSTP), also referred to as Screened Foiled Twisted Pair (SFTP) all but eliminates alien crosstalk and greatly improves noise resistance making it the ideal networking cable in high EMI environments such as power stations, data centers, factories, and hospitals.

Category 8 Cable

Category 8 (CAT8) cable provides higher performance than previous CATx cables. CAT8 cable is designed for operations of up to 2000 MHz. CAT8 cables work with 25/40GBASE-T Gigabit Ethernet, which reduce power consumption and are designed for use in bandwidth intensive data center applications. They are only available in lengths up to 30 meters, and are ideal for use where the distances between units are short.

CAT8 cables are backwards compatible with previous Category standards. The cables are shielded (F/UTP, S/FTP or U/FTP). VPI’s selection of CAT8 cables features S/FTP construction for cost-effective connections.

VPI offers a full range of Network Cables and Accessories including patch cords, cable assemblies, bulk cable, RJ45 plugs, keystone jacks, crimping tools, and cable testers.

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Speaker cable basics

The speaker cable is the wire or cable used to connect the amplifier to the loudspeaker system.

Like all cables it has three main properties: capacitance, inductance and resistance. As a result of the environment in which speaker csable operates it is the resistance that is the most important. This is brought about by the relatively low frequencies used and the system impedance. Most speaker systems have an impedance of anywhere between around three or four ohms up to around 15 ohms. Today most loudspeaker systems have an impedance between four and eight ohms.

As the resistance rises it starts to affect the system performance. Obviously there can be a reduction in the drive current to the loudspeaker as the voltage across the speaker cable increases. The other issue is that the back EMF created by the loudspeaker needs to have a low impedance source against which to work. As the source impedance rises, so the back EMF is absorbed less. This affects the performance of the loudspeaker, particularly in the bass region where the bass may not be as pronounced and it may sound less natural.

Typically the effects of the speaker cable start to become noticeable when the resistance of the cable reaches about 5% of the speaker impedance. Some may even say it needs to be less.

KX6+2P Cable for CCTV camera

KX6 Siamese CCTV cable allows installers to run both the video and power to security cameras (analog CCTV, 720p and 1080p HD cameras) using a single cable run.

KX6+2P cable comes in 500 and 1000 foot spools and is available in black or white colors.

The KX6+2P cable that CCTV Camera Pros supplies has a solid copper core and 95% copper braided shielding.

This is the best type of KX6+2P cable to use for CCTV and HD CCTV installations.

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How to Choose Right UTP CAT5e Cable for Your Network?

UTP CAT5e Cable (Cat 5 enhanced), also know as Cat5e, is currently the most commonly used Ethernet cable in new installations. It’s designed to greatly reduce crosstalk, which means the UTP CAT5e is better at keeping signals on different circuits or channels from interfering with each other. A step above Cat 5, it can handle 1000 Mbps speeds (gigabit Ethernet) at 100 MHz wit a maximum cable length of 328 feet (100 meters). How to choose right Category 5e Cable for your network? This article may give you the answer.

Straight-Through or Crossover Category 5e Cable?

RJ-45 conductor UTP CAT5e cable contains 4 pairs of wires each consists of a solid colored wire and a strip of the same color. There are two wiring standards for RJ-45 wiring: T-568A and T-568B. The two wiring standards are used to create a cross-over cable (T-568A on one end, and T-568B on the other end), or a straight-through cable (T-568B or T-568A on both ends). To create a straight-through Cat 5e, you’ll have to use either T- 568A or T-568B on both ends of the cable. To create a cross-over UTP CAT5e cable, you’ll wire T-568A on one end and T- 568B on the other end of the cable.

The straight-through UTP CAT5e cables are used when connecting Data Terminating Equipment (DTE) to Data Communications Equipment (DCE), such as computers and routers to modems (gateways) or hubs (Ethernet Switches). The crossover UTP CAT5e cables are used when connecting DTE to DTE, or DCE to DCE equipment, such as computer to computer, computer to router or gateway to hub connections. The DTE equipment terminates the signal, while DCE equipment do not.

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Combo cable has its pros

This combo cable is designed to connect a digital media player with a mini AV output to an AV receiver. A right-angle mini AV plug allows easy access to jacks with minimal clearance.

Features :

  • Nickel-plated plugs for rugged durability and efficient signal transfer.
  • Oxygen-Free Copper (OFC) conductor for enhanced signal clarity.
  • Integrated 75-ohm video and 50-ohm audio combo cables for clean connections.

Basic Connections: Speaker Cables

Speaker cables connect the outputs of the power amplifier or the amplifier section of the receiver to the speaker. These cables carry the high-powered electrical currents required to move the internal components of the speaker (the magnets that move the drivers).

You need one pair of speaker cables for each speaker in your home theater (except the subwoofer, if it’s an active system that uses an analog audio interconnect cable). Some expensive speaker systems can use two pairs of speaker wires per speaker. These systems are either biwired or biamped:

  • Biwired: Two sets of speaker wire connect to the same output on the receiver or power amplifier, and you plug them into two sets of terminals on the speaker itself. In most cases, this setup is not worth the expense of the extra set of speaker cables.
  • Biamped: The speaker uses two separate amplifiers — one for the low-frequency drivers and one for the high-frequency drivers.

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How to Choose The Coaxial Cable

Everyone knows what a coaxial cable is, right? It’s that fat wire that goes into your cable box, satellite receiver, or into your TV from an antenna. It looks different from an audio cable or headphone cable largely because of its heft.

There’s a little more to a coaxial cable than that. A coaxial cable carries its voltage on the inside “core” wire, and is surrounded by layers of shielding that stop any signal leakage. The first layer, the dielectric, provides distance between the core and the outer layers, as well as some insulation. The next layers, collectively called the shield, keep electrical impulses and radio transmissions out and keep any stray impulses in. Finally, a jacket made of flexible plastic or rubber protects the entire cable. Keeping the entire cable the same size, and keeping out stray signals, are important.

Another important characteristic is that in a coaxial cable, unlike a headphone or audio cable, the core is used as part of the connector. So, it makes a direct connection. This helps keep the signal as strong as possible.

Coaxial cable is perfect for broadcast television and satellite signals, which carry a huge amount of information and are very sensitive to outside interference. A satellite signal cable must carry signals from 2MHz to 3,000MHz. Compare that with an audio cable which just needs to carry signals up to 2 MHz. That’s a massive amount of information.

Generally, coax cables will be referred to by a code such as RG6/U. RG is a very old specification that refers to the “Radio Guide,” a military guidebook. Any cable marked “/U” is designed for universal use, as opposed to those cables specifically used for computer data or other specified uses. If your cable is not marked “/U” that’s ok as well.

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